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Stormwatch

Marshall Baseball Ready For Memphis

Sports
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5/2/2013 9:38 PM
by Marshall Sports Information

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – With only three weeks remaining in the regular season, Marshall baseball will begin its final push with a three-game Conference USA series against the Memphis Tigers Friday through Sunday at FedExPark in Memphis, Tenn.

All three games of the series can be followed online through CBS GameTracker and the Herd All-Access video stream. Additional live updates will come via Twitter at @HerdZone and @MU_Baseball.

Marshall (18-26, 5-10 C-USA) was swept by Memphis (27-19, 9-9 C-USA) in last year’s meeting at Appalachian Power Park but has been the winner in four of the seven series against the Tigers. Three of those four series wins came on the road as the Thundering Herd is 6-3 when facing the Tigers in Memphis.

The last time the two teams met there, Herd seniors Isaac Ballou and Gray Stafford feasted with seven hits apiece, batting .583 and .528, respectively. Stafford scored seven times, drove in nine runs, and hit three homers in the series, which included coming up a triple shy of the cycle in the middle game. Ballou scored four runs and drove in two as Marshall wiped away a Memphis lead in each of its two victories.

Defensively, Aaron Blair tossed four innings of scoreless relief and picked up a winning decision in the opener. Josh King also saw action out of the pen, going 3.2 innings of one-hit ball in the finale.

This season, Blair has fanned 70 over 64 innings, and his 10-K effort last week against Tulane saw him climb to a career mark of 194, ninth among Marshall’s career strikeouts leaders. Blair is on pace to move into the top five by the end of the regular season.

Over the last two weeks of the season, Andrew Dundon and Ballou have fought for the top spot among Marshall’s hitting leaders. Dunon, who bats .313, has 50 hits along with 16 runs and 16 RBI’s. Ballou is batting .312 with 53 hits, 33 runs, 16 RBI’s, and 14 doubles while reaching base at a rate of .424.

The Tigers are led by first baseman Carter White who is batting .328 with 17 runs and 11 RBI’s. Two other members of the Memphis lineup are batting over the .300 mark.

Twice have the Tigers come away with six or more consecutive victories this season, including a run of eight straight to start the month of April. During that time, Memphis swept C-USA foe UCF while taking two out of three from UAB. Although yet to be swept in C-USA, Memphis has lost each of the other four league matchups: Tulane, Houston, Southern Miss, and East Carolina.

In the Tulane series, Memphis won game two when starting pitcher Erik Shoenrock tossed a complete game shutout, one of three complete games he has on the season. Shoenrock is one of three left-handers the Tigers will turn to for starts in the upcoming weekend. Marshall senior left-hander Wayland Moore will face Shoenrock, a junior, in Friday’s series opener.